Vehicle driving assistance apparatus

Abstract

When there is a possibility that a vehicle collides with an object, a vehicle driving assistance apparatus executes a driving force limitation control to limit an applied driving force to a predetermined driving force or less, and an automatic braking control to automatically brake the vehicle and stop the vehicle. The apparatus stops the driving force limitation control and the automatic braking control when a predetermined stop condition is satisfied after stopping the vehicle, and applies to the vehicle a requested driving force. When the predetermined stop condition is satisfied and the apparatus applies a driving force greater than the predetermined driving force to the vehicle, the apparatus executes a driving force restoration control to change a manner of increasing the applied driving force to the requested driving force depending on a relative relationship between the vehicle and the object.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A vehicle driving assistance apparatus comprising an electronic control unit which, when there is a possibility that an own vehicle collides with an object ahead of the own vehicle, executes a driving force limitation control to limit an applied driving force, which is applied to the own vehicle, to a predetermined driving force or less, and executes an automatic braking control to automatically brake the own vehicle and stop the own vehicle before the own vehicle collides with the object,
 the electronic control unit being configured to stop the driving force limitation control and the automatic braking control when a predetermined stop condition is satisfied after stopping the own vehicle by the driving force limitation control and the automatic braking control, and to apply to the own vehicle a requested driving force, which corresponds to an amount of operation of an accelerator pedal by a driver of the own vehicle,   wherein the electronic control unit is configured to, when the predetermined stop condition is satisfied and the electronic control unit applies a driving force greater than the predetermined driving force to the own vehicle, execute a driving force restoration control to change a manner of increasing the applied driving force to the requested driving force depending on a relative relationship between the own vehicle and the object.   
     
     
         2 . The vehicle driving assistance apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the relative relationship is a distance between the own vehicle and the object, and   wherein the electronic control unit is configured to change the manner of increasing the applied driving force by increasing a gradient of increase of the applied driving force when the distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance, compared to when the distance is less than the predetermined distance.   
     
     
         3 . The vehicle driving assistance apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to stop the driving force restoration control when the applied driving force reaches the requested driving force.